The goal of her employment, as she put it last year, was to "work closely with the app designers, developers, content creators, the retailers, the carriers to really explore the platform and create ideas for its future." It's likely BlackBerry had also hoped Keys's endorsement could offer the company a much-needed boost as its smartphone market share plummeted. In 2013, the company looked like it was accepting a $4.7 billion offer from Fairfax Financial, but that didn't go anywhere. Shortly thereafter it replaced its CEO and booted its COO, CMO, and CFO.

The company is now coming off a third quarter loss of $4.4 billion. Keys will officially leave her role on January 30.